When Flat Out Isn't Enough

Hillsong Conference Notes Session 6 - Priscilla Shirer 07/07
Keep the Sabbath Day Holy

Priscilla brings new insights to a well known (but usually forgotten) commandment in the Bible: keep the Sabbath Day holy. In a world of fast results and ever-faster living, we have fallen into a mistaken notion that more work will bring us better gain. However, just as the order of steps are important in baking a cake, so is the order of priority in our lives for the right results.

**Please be aware that these are my personal notes taken during the conference - it is not intended to be an exact rendering of the message, but capture the essence of what I had received. **

"Sabbath"=  to pause, to cease, to stop, to take a deep breath.

When Flat Out is Not Enough
One way we can know that we've infringed the Sabbath Day is when we're working very hard but find ourselves unproductive. Jesus has gone before us to prepare the works that we should walk in.

Word is that during the production of Michael Jackson's Billy Jean video, the producer told MJ (in essence),  "I know you're a great dancer and your feet can go everywhere at once. But for this to work, I will light up the floor tiles for you. Just dance on the lit up squares."

God, like Michael Jackson's producer, has lit up our path for us too. We should just walk the squares He's lit up.

Remember what Slavery Felt Like, and Taste Your Freedom Anew

Exodus 16:25-26 says (see the scripture in context):

And Moses said, Eat that [manna] to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field.

Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.

Israel was instructed to take the Sabbath Day in a direct break of their 'slave' mentality that drove them to keep busy everyday. They had to realise that they were free, and enjoy it.

Slaves hoard, but free people give.
Slaves fear; the free are carefree
Slaves are afraid of what won't come; the free live in holy expectation
Slaves live in a state of deficiency; the free believe that God will provide
Slaves work on their own strength everyday; the free know that God will step in on Day 7

Israel was told not to gather manna on the Sabbath Day (Ex 16: 19-20) because it will become foul - but they did not listen. (Mel's thoughts: They were afraid that there would not be enough for the next day, so they hoarded what they could: they were still stuck in the slave mentality.)

If we gather too much good stuff beyond what God has asked us to, it becomes distasteful and foul, eg. your job, your clothes, your stuff!

The Law of First Mention
The Law of First Mention is a theological principle that says the first time a concept is mentioned in the Bible, that meaning is carried into every other time that concept is mentioned.

The first time the Sabbath is mentioned is in Genesis Chapter 1. Priscilla used to think that there was no particular order in the sequence of which the world was created. A little study, however, revealed a gem.

If we break up the 6 days of creation into two halves, it looks like this:
                     DOMAIN                                 |     RULING ELEMENT/ INHABITANT OF DOMAIN
DAY 1:     Day & Night                                                          DAY 4:         Sun and Moon
DAY 2:     Heaven & Oceans                                                  DAY 5:         Birds and Fish
DAY 3:     Land and Plants                                                     DAY 6:         Animals & Man

You can see that on each day that a domain in the Earth was created, something was created to fill and take dominion over that domain on the corresponding other half of the week.
Man was created last to take dominion over all that had been created before. God took the Sabbath Day as a statement of His overall sovereignty over ALL Creation.

Adam basically rebelled against this standard and effectively said to God, "You're not Sovereign over my life -- I am." And he went downhill ever since. We are doing the same as Adam when we do not respect the Sabbath Day or keep it as we were commanded to.

Priscilla then went on to suggest that we take a certain percentage of our day, everyday, to stop from our usual work and go do something that we don' often have time to do. This could be spending time with your kids, taking a walk - you'll know what your thing is! As a guideline, she suggested that since the Sabbath Day is 14% of a week, we can use the number 14 to give ourselves time and space for our lives to 'pause, to cease, stop, take a breath': eg.14 minutes a day, clear yourself 14 inches of space off your table etc.

Mel's Thoughts:
I thought the points Priscilla brought to the table was a wonderful, refreshing look at something most Christians gloss over. It's as if we had forgotten, or never really understood why we are commanded to keep the Sabbath Day. It's brought home to me what God had been challenging me about for quite some time now. I haven't had a proper Sabbath Day because Sundays ministering can be just as busy as every other day. Having just one day to spend it with a closer personal focus on God is something I'm working towards.

10-20 years ago, businesses that stayed open on Sundays were a minority. Now it's so common, it's annoying to find one CLOSED on a Sunday. Even Christians are working on the day they are supposed to meet together in Church and rest from their labours.

Now, I want to make clear that I personally think the Sabbath Day is not strictly only a Sunday. However, whatever day that your Church meets together, it's good to be there. It's good for your soul, it's a time to pray for each other, to encourage someone with your testimonies, and to be boosted by someone else's. That time is very important and restful; it's when we treat it as another 'work' time (amongst other things) that we will find it distasteful.

The principle is to REST one day from your usual work. On all the holy feast days and observances, Israel was instructed 'you shall do no customary work' on that day. The Pharisees would later make exactly what you could and can't do so specific that it became restrictive.

People tend to think of the Pharisee's mistake and go too much the other way, then think, "well, that's impossible! Irresponsible! There's too much to do."And they're off again. God knows what's good for us. And if we obey, we will find that blessings will follow.

I once heard of a Jewish family who kept their Sabbath as a very special day for their whole family. They decided to step away from all the stuff they normally did, and just spend time with each other.

They would unplug the phones, the TVs, the computers. The parents would not lay any plans to finish off something they started during the week; the son would have completed all his homework before the Sabbath. They would share stories of their week, their hopes and dreams; they spoke to each other from the Torah and read it together.

The son in that family scored the highest grades in his school, the parents were influential and wealthy. They lacked nothing, and had everything they needed. They made a conscious decision to make space and time to honour God, breathe, enjoy, love. I love it!

While we may not exactly be ale to do what the Jewish family did, isn't it a wonderful example? We are to let go, put down, lay aside our usual work on one day a week to give our souls and bodies space and time to breathe, rest, enjoy. The rest of the week is for toil and diligence, and we take one day to enjoy the fruit of our labours. If that's not balance, what is?